


Stairs

by nntssy



Series: Likely Matchups & Unlikely Reunions [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Not Really Character Death, Post-Battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24024637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nntssy/pseuds/nntssy
Summary: The stairs. Those damn stairs. It’s as if they were mocking him. If there was any fate, it would probably be laughing.[No explicit romance. You can interpret it as platonic or as a ship.]
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro & Tashigi, Roronoa Zoro/Tashigi
Series: Likely Matchups & Unlikely Reunions [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943815
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	Stairs

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Stairs](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23991832) by [Einfach_Antonia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Einfach_Antonia/pseuds/Einfach_Antonia). 



The battle was over.

With Luffy’s final blow the whole ordeal was over. Nami and Jinbei went to recover their captain. Robin (not without scratches herself) was tending to Chopper, who was weakened by intense usage of the Monster Point. Disheveled Franky was approaching them carrying beaten up Usopp over his shoulder. Ero-Cook was sitting and smoking on one of the rubble piles, while Brook was starting to play their favorite song to signify the victory.

Zoro was dragging his limbs while getting out of ruins which once were a perfectly whole building. A castle even. Since Luffy was most likely out of commission for a time being, it was his right-hand man’s duty to check up on survivors. At least that was what he was telling himself.

This time they have had a lot of enemies. A lot of allies as well, including some Marines. A very certain group of Marines. In reality, Zoro was heading straight to the point where they had left G-5 to hold off some riffraff earlier. Well, he thought he was going straight.

There was a lot of bustle. Those who were less wounded were helping those who took more damage to tend to their wounds. After some circling around Zoro finally found what he was looking for - a familiar pink coat. But the closer he was getting to it the more his heart was sinking.

The figure, which was unmistakably Tashigi’s, was lying unmoving on some half-destroyed staircase. Her body was covered with her coat. What actually terrified the swordsman was some light-colored piece of fabric covering her face.

Certain painful memories from Zoro’s childhood started flooding his head. A little girl lied on the floor with a white sheet on her face. Kuina died because she had fallen down the stairs. Random and stupid death. And while it was long since he had stopped associating Tashigi with his childhood friend and started to see her as her own person, the similarity of the scene before him was opening up old wounds. And maybe adding some new ones.

_And the stairs. Those damn stairs. It’s as if they’re mocking me._

Zoro didn’t notice how he had gotten to her side. He was shaking. The sound of his heart beating was overwhelming him. His hand stopped hesitantly halfway to the cloth on her face.

* * *

“Oi, Tashigi, how long are you planning on lying around? If your bleeding has already stopped, help others tend to the wounded!” Smoker’s commanding voice rumbled raising her from her slumber.

Tashigi abruptly sat up, her wet handkerchief falling off her face. She probably dozed off from exhaustion after she had lied down her head on the stairs to keep her chin up in order to stop the nosebleed. Her coat had fallen to her lap. Strange. She didn’t remember putting it here. Must be her subordinates’ doing. Or Smoker-san’s.

After she put her glasses on the next thing that startled her was a certain pirate’s face. Beaten, bloody and very, very pale.

“Roronoa?” Tashigi couldn’t hide a surprise in her voice. He just stared at her with widely opened eyes in response, which was somewhat unsettling. She gathered herself and continued, “Roronoa, are you alright?”

“You are alive,” he said finally.

“Of course, I am. Why…”

Tashigi couldn’t finish before he repeated again, “You are alive.” This time his voice sounded relieved.

And then it dawned on her. She had been lying covered from head to toe, with a white sheet on her face, on the recent battlefield. Her initial confusion gave way to understanding.

_His dead friend. His dead friend that looked like me. This must have reawakened some painful memories._

“It’s okay. I’m okay,” she said in a low voice.

Tashigi couldn’t hold Roronoa’s gaze for long, so she dropped her eyes down, until she saw blood. Lots of blood. There was a huge bleeding wound on his stomach.

* * *

Zoro didn’t remember how they switched places. He was still in a daze when Tashigi was ordering someone around to bring her any kind of first aid supplies. She was scolding him while working on bandages. Something about walking all over the place with a gaping wound in his stomach. About worrying about himself. And about worrying her.

“I think this will do for now,” Tashigi said finally.

If there was any fate, it would probably be laughing at him. With all her similarity to Kuina, Tashigi fell on her face probably on a regular basis. But she always got up.

“Hey, Glasses,” he called out to her when she was about to get up, “Don’t you dare to die that easily.”

**Author's Note:**

> First finished fanfic, yay!


End file.
